Kalam gives ray of hope for HIV patients

Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, Feb 1 (UNI) President A P J Abdul Kalam today exhorted young medical students to convey there was a possibility of controlling HIV and extending the life of patients.

''The genetic nature when studied had some surprises. The retro virus is RNA based and not DNA based. Most retro viruses have only three genes, whereas the HIV virus had nine genes, with 9200 base pairs. With this understanding of the genetic nature, a number of drugs have come in at least to control HIV. This intervention extends the life of HIV affected persons'', he said while taking part in the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Kurnool Medical College.

However, the cost of the medicine was so far prohibitive. Indian companies have already brought down the cost of first line treatment to an AIDS patient from 12,000 US Dollars to 300 US Dollars per year.

Similarly, the cost of second line treatment has also been brought down through the development of medicines such as 'Viraday' a substitute for Atripla from 12,000 US Dollars a month to 110 US Dollars a month.

Calling for mission-mode approach to completion of clinical trials for two anti-HIV vaccines presently under progress, he said it was essential to take up a third fully indigenous anti-HIV programme as a collaborative work between educational institutions like KMC, research laboratories and traditional medicine practitioners.

All age groups put together, the country had an incidence of 5.7 million HIV cases. And, 163 out of 611 districts in the country have a high proportion of HIV cases. The scientific community had a very important mission of determining the genetic nature of HIV that would lead to its cure, he pointed out.

Stressing that tele-medicine should reach out to 7,00,000 million people living in six lakh villages, he said stem cell therapy offered cure for many ailments like treatment of heart failure and diabetics.

He complimented the L V Prasad Eye Institute for setting the tradition of providing quality eye care particularly with social commitment of providing one free eye care service for every paid eye care service provided by the Institute.

''Also, the institute has a tradition of excellent research in Ophthalmology and they are spreading the mission to various parts of the country particularly their research in stem cell which has led to the restoration of eye sight to 300 patients with burn affected eyes'', he pointed out.

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